Lawyer: Federal agent charged in killing at Hawaii McDonald’s was protecting himself, others

Source: Washington Post



(Honolulu Star Advertiser, Dennis Oda/Associated Press) - An unidentifed protester shoves a sign in the face of Christopher Deedy, left, and his wife on an elevator Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 in Honolulu. Deedy made his first court appearance on charges of second-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 2011, shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, of Kailua. Deedy, a 27-year-old agent from Arlington, Va., was in Honolulu to help with security for the Asia-Pacific

By Associated Press, Published: November 17

HONOLULU — The federal agent charged with killing a man in a McDonald’s restaurant in Hawaii was protecting himself and others, his attorney said Thursday.

State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy made his first court appearance Thursday on charges of second-degree murder in the Nov. 5 shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, of Kailua.

During the brief hearing, a district judge agreed to turn over the case to Circuit Court, where Deedy is expected to be arraigned Monday. Circuit Court has jurisdiction in the case after an Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday.

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Elderts, Deedy and two other men were involved in an early-morning argument at a Waikiki McDonald’s when the shooting occurred, police said. Elderts was shot in the chest and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Deedy was arrested at the scene and released two days later after posting $250,000 bond.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/lawyer-federal-agent-charged-in-killing-at-hawaii-mcdonalds-was-protecting-himself-others/2011/11/17/gIQA91iEVN_story.html?wprss=rss_national

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Mugshot:



Courtesy: Honolulu Police Department
Honolulu police released a mugshot of Christopher Deedy, a U.S. State Department special agent, arrested and charged with murder for a fatal shooting early Saturday morning in Waikiki.

Pulling his gun and killing the guy point blank over a fight.

I will wait to hear the whole case because I want to know when the knife entered the picture. A drunk, a knife, and a young federal agent = catastrophe waiting to happen.

knife really did belong to the victim.

That the Feds find a way to intervene and get this guy tried by a more 'sympathetic' judge and jury?

to get this guy a slap on the wrist...

That he will be quietly let go and nothing will happen to him except a promotion to some other place.

WAPO is scum.

How many armed military, special agents, homeland security personnel, etc. do we pay, for pity sakes? Added to local cops and local "special agents", shouldn't be all that long before it's a one to one ratio.



"Police would not comment on whether an alcohol test was administered on the agent." No, but they gave the results of the dead victim's test.

military and quasi military units on the federal, state and local levels anymore without arming our diplomatic corps?

I was thinking the same thing.

look at his eyes in one of those photos.

Not how close they are together, but how they look. IMO, he looks either stoned or nuts, quite apart from the relatively small distance between his eyes..

He's got the look of having killed. That doesn't make him evil, but it's something that changes, and never leaves, a person.

caused that look in his eyes.

We can't even say they don't look like that most of the time.

Killing is, after all, an anticipated part of the job he sought.

I'm hard-pressed to think of how this isn't blatant injustice.

Yeah, I know that's redundant

I see no reason to shoot him. If you're in a regular fistfight with an unarmed guy, you don't shoot him.

If somebody is strangling you, and you are in fear of losing your life, that's justifiable homicide... which is to say that there are a lot of circumstances that justify lethal force that don't involve "weapons".

From what I read in the story it seemed like a regular fistfight until the guy started shooting. Not that he was being choked out and had no choice. More details to come perhaps. Maybe a video?

As is a scuffle.

Did it justify lethal response?

That's why we have juries.

Long story short, don't start or participate in a fistfight unless you're willing to be sent to death because of it.

Your comment of "regular fistfight" is quite disturbing to me. I see it in the same realm as "regular rape", and "regular child molestation".

Maybe they are regular to you. There is no such thing as as a "regular fistfight" to me.

Not even close.

Besides, do we have any evidence that Mr. Agent could not have walked away at any point before shooting someone in MacDonalds?

This is not a home invasion, where the law of some states allows you to use lethal force, even if you have a reasonable alternative.

There is a huge difference between a couple of guys throwing down and someone raping children. Come on. Unless this guy was Bruce Lee, throwing a few kicks doesn't constitute deadly force.

much less evaluate what was a 'life threatening' situation...(indicated by the two missed shots before the fatal wound)

I also find it humorous that a secret service agent can't defuse a situation with a belligerent, unarmed drunk without reaching for his sidearm--they are probably as well trained as any LEOs in hand-to-hand...There are about a dozen things he could have done in this situation before resorting to lethal force (#1 on the list of course is to simply walk away), but nobody ever thinks about that on Saturday night when there are girls watching...